Wonder Women

Get Focused

I know, I know. Another productivity software post! But this one is really about a method of getting things done that is designed for paper.

It's true that I change approaches to task management like I change outfits. But after two and a half weeks I am enamored with this approach. In 2.5 weeks I have added more than 600 tasks to my list and have just over 230 to do. I did something last night I have been putting off for two years. I feel that this method of getting things done is probably the best way to beat procrastination!

So what is it? I can't tell you. LOL. But go to www.markforster.net and sign up for the Autofocus beta testing link for free and Mark will tell you! It is definitely easy to understand and can really be life changing.

I am using Appigo's ToDo to access Toodledo for my Autofocus lists and I love it. Toodledo may be the most flexible task management software I have used. It isn't perfect but it's getting close! However, paper works just peachy.

I am off to mark "do a blog post on productivity" off my list!

Freedom from Procrastination

Mark Forster’s link to Jim Perry’s article, “Structured Procrastination,” got me thinking. Jim suggested that we procrastinate doing tasks that are more important by completing tasks that are less important. He had a point. I often find myself doing just about everything but what I should be doing. But I disagree that it's primarily the importance of a task that gets my procrastination process flowing.

We all know that the size, difficulty, or unpleasantness of a task can prompt procrastination. Mark’s book, Do It Tomorrow, offers wonderful suggestions for coping with this kind of task resistance. But I believe there is another factor at play: obligation. That is the gist of what I wanted to say. Please don’t feel obligated to read further.

Examples of Obligation-Based Procrastination

When I was in sixth grade, I took piano lessons. Each week, I would meet with my piano teacher and tried to fake my way through the assigned pieces that I had not practiced. I hated that I had to play certain songs for a certain period of time, even though I enjoyed the piano. Finally, I convinced my mom to let me quit. From that day on, I sat and played piano for about an hour a day.

As a psychologist, I have seen couples’ sex lives demonstrate the same principle. A physical relationship can become nonexistent because of the obligation one partner feels to participate. The “treatment” I used was to forbid both partners from initiating intimacy for a couple weeks. The result was that the obligated partner was all over her spouse in no time.

As a homeschooling teacher, I have seen this principle at work in my children. The boys loved their computer science assignments and would do several lessons in one sitting. That is, until I assigned them a lesson a week to check off in their notebooks. Suddenly, nothing could get them on the computer. Hm. Maybe I need to assign a daily video game?

I propose that the more obligated we feel to complete a task, the more likely we are to procrastinate doing it. Significant rewards or punishments can override the power of the obligation-procrastination connection. No matter how obligated or put out you felt, you would probably not procrastinate going to pick up a check for your million-dollar lotto winnings. Likewise, the threat of missing the plane and not catching another one keeps people from extreme procrastination when it comes to leaving for the airport. Well, some people.

Without realizing it, people who use obligation (read guilt) to motivate in relationships often get the opposite of what they were hoping for. The mother who makes her son feel obligated to call gets fewer calls. The blogger who complains about lack of comments gets fewer comments. The wife who pouts about lack of romance gets none.

Why Obligation Produces Procrastination

I have long been enamored with the four-personality-type model described by Florence Littauer in Personality Plus.  I believe personality explains much of why we eschew obligation. Powerful Cholerics desire control. Obligations feel like loss of control to this personality type. This explains why my Choleric husband refused procrastinated writing his agenda on our family calendar. Obligations are particularly conducive to procrastination for this personality type.

Popular Sanguines just wanna have fun. Obligations are automatically not fun. If someone is requiring you to do something (even if it’s you), it must be something to be avoided. Although the Choleric is likely to refuse an obligation-laden task, Sanguines are likely to do it at the very last minute for fear that you won’t like them if they don’t.

Peaceful Phlegmatics just want to feel valued in a life that is easy and peaceful. Obligations that create conflict will be avoided. This personality will often do obligatory-tasks if they’re quick and easy. But effort-laden tasks coupled with an I’m-superior-to-you attitude is sure to invite procrastination.

Perfect Melancholies are least likely to be affected by obligation-related procrastination. The Melancholy, by his nature, feels obligated to perform tasks perfectly. This attitude does not keep him from doing the work. In fact, he rarely procrastinates as procrastination is an imperfect work habit.

How to Be Free From Obligation-Based Procrastination

So how can we manage the obligation-procrastination cycle, especially given that many obligations emanate from others? 

First, remove obligations if possible. I was paid for doing premarital counseling at my church for many years. The paycheck made me feel obligated. As a result, I put off many tasks related to this position. I asked that I be made a volunteer instead. With the obligation removed, I was much more productive in this role. Perhaps you simply don’t have to do what you are avoiding doing.

Second, reassign obligations. Some obligation is perceived when no one else is taking on what we view as a necessary responsibility. Tasks like cooking, cleaning, and other chores can create obligation-inspired procrastination if one feels the work has been left to you. Your family members or office-mates may not seem to care if you complete these tasks, but if you care and aren’t getting any help, procrastination can kick in. The solution is to discuss your dilemma without placing blame or obligation on those who may be very willing to help.

Third, work ahead. (Notice that I don’t feel obligated to continue with the re- words.) The closer and closer a deadline looms, the more obligated we feel. That is why we engage in seemingly nonsensical behaviors like watching TV when we have a major paper or project due the next day. If we follow the time-honored advice of beginning early on projects, we feel no obligation. In fact, we feel superior for being so far ahead on our work by choice. If you have a project deadline coming up soon (tomorrow) that you’re going to procrastinate on anyway, go ahead and start working on a project that isn’t due for months! You know you’ll stay up late, imbibing tons of caffeine, and get your obligatory work done anyway. (Yes, that is a little reverse psychology.)

Fourth, refuse to accept obligations unless absolutely necessary. Committing to specific dates or expectations for a project may get you procrastinating. Instead, be a noncommittal volunteer whenever possible.  I love writing, but give me a deadline with a picky editor and you can be sure that I’ll be doing a lot of web surfing rather than writing. The reason I am writing this article today is because I have absolutely no obligations associated with it. I can write it whenever, however I would like to.  An easy way to refuse self-imposed obligations is not to add a task to your to-do list. The task may then become a "want to" rather than a "have to." This would only be effective for tasks that you won’t forget. This lack of obligation may explain the popularity of the Getting Things Done philosophy. Tasks are collected and sorted into contexts (at phone, at computer, at office, etc.), but there is no commitment to do tasks without deadlines today. You can choose what you want to work on (for the most part) guilt-free.

Fifth, rethink obligations. When we've used the first four approaches and we're still faced with an obligatory, procrastination-producing task (or the threat of being fired), we can change how we think about it. For example, FLYLady calls weekly cleaning the “home blessing.” The language we use in our heads and in our spoken words has a huge impact on how motivated we are to complete certain tasks. Consider your emotional reaction to the words “responsibility” and “privilege.” Which of these two types of tasks would you be most likely to complete? So many of our “responsibilities” (like grocery shopping, caring for children, home maintenance) are what millions of destitute people would consider privileges. Adopting a grateful perspective can help us get the job done today.

I hope these suggestions will free you from procrastination. But please don’t feel obligated to put any of them into practice. If you’d like to comment on them, feel free to do so whenever you like. I'm off to do something else I don't have to do.

TGFI - Thank God for IPhone!

It all started when my then 11yo son asked me why I didn't have an IPod. I told him I would get an IPod when they made it a phone, too. He said, "They have that!" He proceeded to show me the Steve Jobs video unveiling the original IPhone. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a technology junkie. I was hooked and counted the days until the IPhone would be released. Waiting is not my strong suit, so it wasn't a good thing that it wasn't due to be released for several months after I saw the video. I was dreaming about it. Then I had the problem of my cell phone contract not being up. The June 2007 release date came and went and I had no IPhone. My next problem was that my husband is NOT a technology junkie. Convincing him that this was something that I "needed" was a challenge. I begged him to buy me one for Christmas and then I was losing sleep worried that he'd gotten me a plain ole IPod instead, thinking that it was "cheaper" and "just as good." But he surprised me and I was ECSTATIC to get an Iphone last Christmas Day! 

Since then, I have counted the ways the IPhone has changed my life. Now don't get me wrong. No one NEEDS an IPhone. If you are struggling to make ends meet, know that I've been there. Even more thrilling than an IPhone is not having to use a cash advance from one credit card to pay off another and wondering when the next check will come bouncing back to you! Everything an IPhone can do, you can do for free or next to nothing the old fashioned way. So if money is tight, forget the IPhone! You don't need one. But if you are in the market for an IPod and/or cell phone and/or PDA, read on.

A girlfriend of mine once told me that wearing thong underwear would change my life. It did for the few minutes that I could tolerate the feeling of having meat stuck between my teeth being extended to my nether region. The IPhone is not like that. Here are all the reasons I thank God for IPhone:

1) Email device - I can keep up with email anywhere! 

2) MP3 player - I can listen to my music during workouts.

3) Song name determiner - With Shazam, I just put it next to the music and it immediately tells me the name of the song, album, artist, etc. and links me to ITunes to buy it.

4) Babysitter - I have downloaded a few games, kids' shows and movies to keep the kids from screaming and hitting each other in the waiting room.  Turn taking continues to be a problem, however!

5) Workout logger - To do my first Body for Life challenge, I had to carry paper and pen. No more! I take Gyminee with me. 

6) Grocery List - I use SplashShopper and Tasty Planner and I'm ready to shop!

7) Chore Timer - The kids are timed doing their chores every day and they earn privileges based on their ranking for the week. I use the IPhone's built in timer to track their times.

8) Allowance Keeper - I use the Spend app to set up a "budget" for each child. The program automatically adds their weekly allowance. When a child makes a purchase, I can deduct the amount on the spot. No more trying to remember and kids losing the actual money.

9) Calendar - I sync iCal with Google calendar so I can make changes to my calendar from my IPhone or from any computer connected to the Internet. This distractible woman loves being able to use alarms or text messages to remind me to do just about anything!

10) To Do list - I use Mark Forster's Do It Tomorrow approach to task management and use Cultured Code's Things to keep tasks in order. I've tried lots of different approaches and right now this is my favorite. I will blog more about DIT in the future.

11) Bible - When I am on the go and even when I am not, I use the free Bible application on my IPhone to quickly look up verses. 

12) Reader - I can keep up with all my blogs much better having them on Google Reader on my IPhone. I have read half a free book on my IPhone, too, but it's not as appealing as real books so far.

13) Radio - I love being able to choose any genre of free music to suit my mood. I can put Christian music on to listen to while I'm doing devotions, for example.

14) News - I wish I had time to watch TV news or read the paper. I don't! My dh keeps me informed and when he doesn't, I can check into what's going on with the vSNAX app on my IPhone. 

15) Photo Album - No longer do I have to say, "Oh I'll have to show you that photo sometime." I can keep all my most recent or favorite photos or even scrapbook pages on my IPhone. What's more is I can share home videos, too!

16) Weather Center - I used to spend a lot of time trying to time the news just right to catch the weather. Even the weather channel was a challenge! Now I just click on the native weather app or WeatherBug on my IPhone and I know right away what to expect this week. 

17) White and Yellow Pages on the go - Can't tell you how many times I have used this. For example, I've quickly looked up restaurants, called them by tapping the number, and gotten directions pronto! 

18) Navigator - I am map challenged, so having the ability to toggle between a GPS-enabled map and a list of directions has saved me more times than I care to say. I'm actually glad the thing can't talk to me because I wouldn't want to hear it!

19) Connector - Being able to quickly touch base via Facebook, Twitter, and AIM helps me feel as though I am not neglecting friends and family despite my very busy lifestyle.

20) Remote - I connected my computer's ITunes to the older whole-house speaker system we have. Using my IPhone I can control the music and even the volume that's playing throughout the house. If only I could control the kids with it!

21) Countdown keeper - If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked, "How many days til my birthday?" I would be only a little consoled. But at least I have Ticker, an IPhone app that keeps track of all of that for me!

22) Note taker - I can add text, audio, and photo notes via multiple applications and store them online. For example, I have used the built-in-camera to record my parking space in a garage and I have recorded my Bible memory verses in notes. 

23) Camera - Yes, it's only 2MP, but it does in a pinch! No more fretting about not having a camera.

24) Flashlight - I get up to workout while it's still dark and my dh is sometimes sleeping. I use the light from my IPhone to find my way to the bathroom without injuring myself BEFORE I get to the gym.

25) Question Answerer - While in the middle of homeschooling or just about anywhere people ask a question that I don't know the answer to, I whip out my IPhone and in a few Google seconds, I know! This morning, we wondered why dogs roll in stinky things. (Answer: To make you crazy. ;-)

Okay, I will be blogging all night if I don't limit myself to a quick honorable mention to the rest of the things my IPhone does for me: calculator, stock price checker, alarm clock, address book, dictionary and scrabble word checker, exercise interval timer, movie previewer, ebay broker, speech timer and recorder, bank teller, restaurant chooser, external hard drive via airsharing and datacase, mobile blogger, price checker, checklist, foreign language dictionary, portable movie player, and online shopping cart.   

If you have an IPhone, comment and tell me any other ways you use your IPhone. If you don't and you're in the market for one, what are you waiting for? Get to an Apple or AT&T store! 

Mac Attack

I have to admit to my craving. I wanted a Big Mac and I got one! I have spent so many hours hassling with PCs over the years that when my dh's computer died this week, I plunked down the money for a Big iMac--a 24" one to be exact. Everything is so much more streamlined and easy to set up. I pulled out more than a dozen cords to move my PC and replaced them with 3. The mass of tangled cords compared to the Mac's was so ridiculous, my 10yo agreed I should send it to Apple as a commercial idea!

You can network Macs and PCs and you can run Windows on a Mac even at the same time as your Mac operating system. And you don't have to talk to a man in India to service your computer. I had an Indian tech guy wake me up at 11pm and tell me to fire up my computer so he could make me rerun tests I had already done twice. LOL

If you are in the market for a computer, buy a Mac. If not, buy some Apple stock. You'll either save yourself some valuable time or you'll make some money.

Hibernating Can Be Productive

Maybe you've wondered if I've been doing a lot of this. Nope! But superheroes DO need rest! Christmas, the flu, birthday parties, church functions, and homeschooling have kept me extra busy as have two very destructive preschoolers!

But in my absence from blogging, I've been finding a lot of great things I wanted to share with you! Here are a couple of them.

The first  is www.jott.com. Heard of it? I told one of my friends who always asks about my latest finds about it and she doesn't have a cell phone. You have to have a cell phone to make use of this. Let's say you're in your car and you remember something you need to email someone or that you need to be reminded of. Just call Jott and the message is automatically typed for you in an email. Jott to yourself, your spouse, a group, even your blog! Best of all...it's FREE!

Another free find I have for you is www.iwantsandy.com. This is a lot like Jott (and actually you can use both services together) only you email Sandy. She sends you reminders to your email or your phone as you request. What makes Sandy a big time-saver is you don't have to take the time to enter items into your calendar. When I do that on Yahoo, I have to use several steps to also set up the reminder. With Sandy, it's as simple as emailing r 2/5 10 am radio interview in the subject line. R stands for "remind me." Each day Sandy will email you what you have on your agenda. You can use her to keep track of your todo's, too.

Pumping Up Your Productivity

If you've been reading this blog a while, you know how enamored I am with David Allen's Getting Things Done.

I love having this workflow diagram to help me quickly deal with the many things in my "IN" box. Follow this link to print off your own copy that fits neatly in a standard 5.5 x 8.5 planner. http://www.douglasjohnston.net/weblog/archives/2005/06/19/gtd-covey-diagrams/

Using www.diyplanner.com allows you to create your own planner pages using your printer, a paper cutter and hole punch. If you're a homeschooler, you'll appreciate the flexibility of creating planning and record-keeping pages that fit with how YOU do school. Using this sytem, you can also create inexpensive planners for your kids!

In my next posts, I'll give you more detailed information about how a paper planner can pump up your productivity (and your students', too!). 

The Cart That Has My Heart

If you've read my book or heard my get-organized talk, you know I don't think bins and drawers are all we need to get organized. But when we have the Super Power, we can make real use of these organizing tools. I am on a quest to get all my photos in order after reading the ebook, Save Your Photos and Your Sanity at www.organizedphotos.com. The ebook is overpriced in my opinion, but it DID motivate me and gave me some keep-it-simple advice to get the whole lot of photos and memorabilia tackled. The photo envelopes and negative envelopes they sell are also quite expensive, but I have been unable to locate an inexpensive and equally useful alternative. Just as an aside, I am using the cropper hoppers and photo boxes to organize my photos and am going to give their negative envelopes a try.

Save Your Phots and Your Sanity motivated me to once and for all get my memorabilia safely stowed and organized. I researched 12 x 12 file folders, but the expense (or time to modify regular files) is prohibitive. I have some excellent art files from Exposures for really oversized items, but needed something to store the run-of-the-mill memorabilia. I found the 7-drawer craft cart from Target and I am thrilled! Each drawer is a self-contained unit with a lid that stays firmly in place. In other words, you can just grab one of these drawers, stick it in your crop bag and go! Layouts, memorabilia and albums will not fly everwhere and won't be bent.

You say you're not a scrapbooker? This is an excellent way to store momentos, but the sky's the limit. You could use this as a project case. Put your taxes, your kids school projects, work projects, craft supplies, puzzles, games, etc. and you are organized and ready to go. If you have kids in the car, you could stow different activities to occupy the kids each day of the week, for example. I think I need more of these! If you come up with a different way to use this fantastic product, let me know!

Save Your Photos and Your Sanity also has me committed to getting all my digital photos tagged in Photoshop Elements 5.0. When I'm done (and even before I'm done), I can quickly put together albums using www.creativememories.com and www.picaboo.com free software. If you've never seen how beautiful these photo books are and how simple they are to make, take some time today to check out these two programs.

I Have a Cat

One thing I have in abundance at my house is books! My husband sells them and I buy them. We're homeschoolers and that makes for an abundance of books, too. I have so many books that I'm not really sure which books I actually own! If I'm looking for a book to lend or a book on a specific school subject, I'm not sure how hard to look or even where in the house to look! I decided the answer to the problem was a cat. A Cue Cat that is.

A Cue Cat is a very inexpensive bar code reader that can quickly input your personal library into the free cataloging website, www.librarything.com. I have mine attached to my laptop computer so I can go from room to room cataloguing books. With LibaryThing, you can search through your personal library of books, noting where they are in your house with a tag, even keeping track of books you've lent to others. Then like a Blockbuster or Netflix, LibaryThing can tell you what books you'd enjoy based on what you already own. There are groups aplenty on LibaryThing, too.

Imagine the possibilities! Form a group with your family, your neighbors, your coworkers, your church, or your homeschooling friends and suddenly you have a fantastic virtual library from which to borrow and lend--that is, if you want to! You can check out a small portion of my personal libary (uploading everything to the site will take some time!) underneath the weekly menu on the left. If you join Library Thing or its competitor, www.shelfari.com, let me know! I'd love to talk books with you. I have only checked out Shelfari a bit today, but so far I'm more fond of LibraryThing. If you disagree, post and tell me why.

Creative Organizing

I read Aby Garvey's ebook, the Happy Scrapper, and was hooked on her great ideas for organizing. Then I checked out her blog, http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com and signed up for her newsletter on www.simplify101.com and was even more excited.

When I organized a scrapbooking event last year to benefit Nurses for Newborns, I invited Aby to speak and she graciously agreed. She was so ORGANIZED and generous and GORGEOUS! I swear she looks like a model! Now her new book is out: 

One of Aby's ideas that I love is pretending you are getting ready to go on vacation if you are really in need of some productivity. What we do prior to a vacation is tie up all the losse ends, stop watching TV, surfing the Net and all the other distractions, and even stop answering the phone. We're focused on our goal!

If Aby's ideas via her blog, book, and newsletter aren't enough for you, consider signing up for her tele-class or hiring her as a consultant. I don't think you'll be sorry!

Getting Things Done

I've become really enamored with David Allen's ideas. If you watch the video, I think you'll understand why. The principles apply whether you're a stay-at-home mom or a top level executive and no kids.